September: Kurdistan sold 16.9m oil barrels through Turkey

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) sold 16.9 million oil barrels through Ceyhan port in Turkey during the month of September, KRG Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) reported on Friday.

The monthly report of the MNR shows that the KRG has exported 564,808 oil barrels per day on average to Turkey during the month of September. The Region has also refined 1,723,805 oil barrels in total in the month, according to the MNR monthly report.

The price of each oil barrel was US $36.10, which resulted in $611,764,928 in total. Over $75.7 million was given to the main oil producers and $188.3 million retained from sales revenue by buyers against past prepayments.

The MNR also explained in the report that $20 million of the oil revenue sold in Ceyhan was allocated to Kirkuk petrodollar, other producers and electricity costs.

Finally, the net cash balance retained by the KRG for September Ceyhan sales was $347,614,969.

The rate of oil barrels sold in Ceyhan and the total revenue has increased compared to the month of August. The KRG exported 12,763,566 barrels of crude oil in total during the month of August, an average of 411,727 barrels a day, generating $413.9 million for the sold crude oil.

In addition, in August the KRG sold its crude oil with the average of $32.44 per barrel, according to the MNR report.

Kurdistan Region has faced a financial crisis since 2014 after the former Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki cut the shared federal budget of the Region.

Other reasons causing the crisis include the decline in international oil prices, war with the Islamic State (IS) and hosting nearly 1.8 million refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

Editing by Ava Homa